Yes, it's finally here! BravePicks 2011. Why so late? Cuz we're cutting to the chase. Normally we countdown throughout December, but this year we've filtered out the mediocre to give all the BraveWords.com faithful the cream of the crop - releases you may actually want to play more than once! So 'tis the season for BravePicks 2011 - The 12 Days Of Metal. We will be counting down until New Year's some of the finest slabs of metal this past year had to offer, voted by the devout scribes here at BraveWords.com! What does "slab" actually mean? We're talking studio albums. No compilations, rerecordings, live albums etc… Just pure metal, all killer no filler!

So let's rock …

2011 … The 12 Days Of Metal

12) VALLENFYRE – A Fragile King (Century Media)

Vallenfyre is the brainchild of Gregor Mackintosh, songwriter and guitarist of PARADISE LOST, along with members of MY DYING BRIDE, AT THE GATES and DOOM.

The sound of Vallenfyre goes back to Mackintosh’s youth: “I was first introduced to more extreme music by my older brother in 1981. Over the next few years in my early teens I grew to love various early hardcore punk bands like DISCHARGE, ENGLISH DOGS, CONFLICT, etc. Around a similar time I was becoming aware of other more metal music like MOTÖRHEAD and BLACK SABBATH. In '84/'85 I got into bands who were fusing these styles like HELLHAMMER, ANTISECT and AMEBIX. A couple of years later I started tape trading with people all around the world which enabled me to hear lots of really cool, interesting, extreme music. AUTOPSY, NAPALM DEATH, MORBID ANGEL, REPULSION, NIHILIST are some of the more well known names I started to get into but there were many many more which never gained the same notoriety. At the same time I formed Paradise Lost with my friends. Our early stuff was a bit of a mixture of all this stuff but we also had a lot of doom influence from the likes of CANDLEMASS, TROUBLE and SAINT VITUS.”

The events that led to the conception and formation of Vallenfyre are not particularly happy or pretty ones:

“In the late summer of 2009, my father John Mackintosh was diagnosed with prostate cancer," Mackintosh continues. "Later in the autumn as his treatment progressed, Paradise Lost embarked on the their European tour to support the latest album, Faith Divides Us – Death Unites Us. A week into this, I received a call from my mother telling me that the doctors had found cancer in his lungs and it was terminal. He only had weeks to live. I made the decision to leave the tour leaving my very able guitar tech Milly (not be confused with Vallenfyre’s Mully) to take my place. I went and stayed with my parents for the next few weeks. After a very sad and painful time he passed away on the 2nd December early in the morning. Over the next few weeks I experienced all the famous stages of grief. It started to become very self destructive so I decided to channel it into creating something. To pay respects to the man that drove us to our very first gigs because none of us could drive. The only Dad I knew that listened to BOLT THROWER’s Peel Sessions on the radio. The guy who gave me my first chord book. I decided that I was going to go right back to the beginning. To my roots in death, crust and doom. It all started very Angst ridden. This wasn't originally meant for anyone else to hear. It was a release. After recording some material I realized that I was actually enjoying doing this but I wanted friends involved so it could actually become real fun.”

“The album is called A Fragile King, which is a reference to my fathers' battle with cancer," Mackintosh closes. "The lyrics are predominantly about the same thing but also include gripes with society, religion, politics and relationships as well. It's all pretty grim.“

The full line-up is:

Gregor Mackintosh (Paradise Lost) - vocals and lead guitar

Hamish Glencross (My Dying Bride) - rhythm and lead guitars

Mully - rhythm guitars

Scoot (Doom, EXTINCTION OF MANKIND) - bass

Adrian Erlandsson (At The Gates, Paradise Lost) – drums

'Cathedrals Of Dread':

BravePicks 2011 … The 12 Days Of Metal

12) VALLENFYRE – A Fragile King (Century Media)

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